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A quantitative comparison of synaptic density following perfusion versus immersion fixation in the rat cerebral cortex
Author(s) -
Monfils MarieH.,
Bray Doug F.,
Driscoll Ira,
Kleim Jeffrey A.,
Kolb Bryan
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
microscopy research and technique
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.536
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1097-0029
pISSN - 1059-910X
DOI - 10.1002/jemt.20214
Subject(s) - immersion (mathematics) , perfusion , fixation (population genetics) , cerebral cortex , biomedical engineering , neuroscience , materials science , chemistry , biology , medicine , mathematics , biochemistry , pure mathematics , gene
The main objective of the present study was to perform an unbiased comparison of immersion vs. perfusion techniques to assess whether we could use the former to quantify synapses through electron microscopy (EM). Using the immersion technique is ideally suited for instances in which the specimen under study could not be perfused under the standard EM protocol. Our results suggest that, despite suboptimal qualitative results, fixation by immersion allows for adequate quantification of synapses. Microsc. Res. Tech. 67:300–304, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.